Riverwalk Boating Company

Riverwalk Boating Company is a cool new pop-​up company offering another fun way to enjoy the Hillsborough River and Tampa Downtown waterfront areas for boating novices, tourists, and locals! Riverwalk Boating Company has a fleet of 4 mini 2 seater boats available for rental from the Convention Center docks in Downtown Tampa next to Sail Pavilion from 10AM-​530PM or until sunset, now 7 days a week! During the winter days, the sun sets around 530PM but during the summer months it can set as late as 730PM. Boat rentals from Riverwalk Boating company cost $ 35 per half hour, $ 50 per hour, and there’s a 3 hour special for $ 110. You can take the boat up the Hillsborough River past the University of Tampa, and you can dock it at Curtis Hixon Park, Water Works Park, Ulele or Ricks on the River which is a cool waterfront bar on the Hillsborough River about 25 minutes away by boat. Unfortunately, boating all the way to Beer Can Island is not recommended with these boats due to the choppy waters of old Tampa Bay but it would take about 1 hour to boat out there. You can also take the boats through the Seddon Channel between Harbour Island & Davis Island and stop at the Davis Island Yacht Club. You can go further past the Davis Island Yacht club to Spoil Island where you can see some manatees and dolphins. The max speed on the boats is only 17mph which is a bit on the slow side so that’s why the time to boat to places is a little bit longer than with a traditional boat. You can only fit 2 people on these rental boats but it’s way cheaper than the water taxi that is $ 200 per hour, although it can seat 15 people. If you have a large group the water taxi may be worth it. However, if you have less than 10 people it’s not worth it and the River Walk Boating Company’s boat rental is a better deal. It’s nice that the Riverwalk Boating Company does not require a boating license to operate these boats and there is no extra fees for gas used unlike other boat rental places. You don’t have to worry about slowing down in the no wake zones as the due to the max 17mph speed of these boats either. There is limited parking available in the private parking lot of the Convention Center. Boat drivers have to be 18 years old but the passenger can be any age. Staff was friendly and very informative in answering questions. They kind of have to be because there is no official price list to be found anywhere online or on the docks.